October 23, 2012

HSC Urges Chicago Board of Education to Support Student Health and Learning with New Wellness Policy

Update, Oct. 24 -- Great news! Today, the Chicago Board of Education passed the new wellness policy that we discussed in this post! You can learn more about the new policy here.

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HSC urges the Chicago Board of Education to
adopt a new school wellness policy being proposed at the Board’s October 24
meeting. This proposed policy builds on years of experience making changes to
promote student health and wellness in Chicago Public Schools (CPS),
particularly the district’s decision to support schools in meeting the high
standards for healthy eating and physical activity set by the HealthierUS
School Challenge. This policy is especially critical in light of the high rates
of obesity and related illness that Chicago children face, and the increasing
body of research connecting healthy eating and physical activity with academic
success.

“Healthy students are
better prepared to learn. By adopting policies that support student wellness,
Chicago Public Schools has the opportunity to support not only children’s
health but their learning as well,” said Rochelle Davis, President and CEO of
Healthy Schools Campaign. “Creating health-promoting environments in schools is
an important goal with practical solutions that we’ve seen work in Chicago.
Simply put, the type of practical points proposed in this policy help schools
make the healthy choice the easy choice. This is both a practical policy and
one that positions CPS as a leader nationally in creating policy that supports
health and academic success.”

The proposed wellness
policy addresses nutrition education, physical activity, physical education and
other elements of school wellness. Two years ago, CPS partnered with Healthy
Schools Campaign and others to support schools in meeting the health-promoting
standards of the HealthierUS School Challenge. Through this initiative, called
Go for the Gold, more than 100 schools have achieved national recognition for
school wellness practices or are well on their way to doing so. These schools
have figured out how to incorporate nutrition education in the curriculum,
provide more physical education classes, bring back recess and more.

The proposed policy builds
on this success by positioning CPS to support all schools in the district in
making these practical changes for students’ health. The updated policy would
create the infrastructure and support at the district level to ensure that
schools are able to maintain these gains and more schools are able to benefit
from improved wellness.

Over the last 15
years, studies have increasingly connected physical activity and healthy eating
with schools’ core goals of learning and academic success. "An abundance
of data now indicates that those children who are more physically active do
better in school,” said Sarah Buck, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Chicago State
University. “Their test scores are higher, they are more able to stay on
task, and they have higher self-esteem.”

The health-promoting
changes outlined in the proposed policy have met with positive responses from
parents when put into practice in schools. Karina Macedo, mother of two
children attending Greene elementary school located in the McKinley Park
neighborhood, said, “As a mom, I know the importance of physical activity
to my sons’ academic performance. They are better able to learn when they are
re-energized with breaks like recess. That’s why I have been working with our
school wellness team to create more opportunities for physical activity. The new
CPS Wellness Policy would help advance parents’ efforts to make the school day
healthier.”

Lilliana Hernandez,
whose children attend Eli Whitney school, added, “After working with my school
to implement more opportunities for nutrition education, I’m happy to see that
the healthy habits I teach them at home are being reinforced at school. I urge
CPS to continue making our children’s health a priority.”

Given the powerful
role of school environments in shaping children’s long-term health, Chicago’s
medical community has also voiced support for the updated policy.

“The Illinois
Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics is pleased that CPS and the Board
continue to recognize the significant relationship between student health and
academic achievement, and commend their efforts to make substantial
improvements to its wellness policies that will remove health-related barriers
to learning,” said Scott Allen, MS, Executive Director, Illinois Chapter,
American Academy of Pediatrics.

To view the proposed
CPS wellness policy, see page 19 of the Board of Education packet online at http://bit.ly/CPSOct24. To learn more or
connect with parents, teachers and principals supporting wellness in Chicago
Public Schools, contact Mark Bishop at 312-419-1810 or mark@healthyschoolscampaign.org.

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